I would like to teach a flat back 4 as part of a 4-4-2 formation. I coach U12 town travel team, and wish to prepare them for what is in store for them at the high school level. Till now, our Sweeper/Stopper has worked very well, and our goalie most often shows as a 2nd sweeper as he handles the ball well. I like to coach in a building block structure, where the basic concepts are introduced one at a time (usually small sided activities) and then try to put it all together in a game like setting (or with conditions imposed relating to what has been taught up to that time). Can someone provide a sequence of activities and the main coaching points for each activity, to get started? Are there basic defending principles or defensive shape rules that need to be adhered to? Is there a book that might make this task a little less undaunting? My goal in the spring season is to spend half the season on the defensive end of things, and the second half working on building an attack.
-
-
This is not the best place for coaching questions. Try and-again.com. -
For a u-12 town travel team you should be teaching anything but a flat 4Originally posted by Revs View Post
Stick with the basics skills if you can do that.Comment
-
11 v 11 or 8v8????Comment
-
Flat 4 is exactly what he should be teaching at 11v11. Sweeper/Stopper concept is an old directstle sstem that does not teach skills.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
I did not know there were 2 of you experts out there.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
-
to implement at U12 you must start simply. It also tends to be very defensive as players of that age do not usually attack from the back.
Begin with two basic shapes of coordinated movement. The shapes are the Arrow and Pyramid. They are in response to the zone where the ball carrier is. Players pick up marks in their zone. Player in closet zone becomes second defender, next is third and so on. Rehearse with walk through as coach or player representing the attacker moves side to side between touch lines and the defense adjusts.
Here's a primitive diagram. the X's are defenders. the ball carrier is O. (the dots mean nothing) Shown is left side arrow, middle pyramid shapes. right arrow.
O
.X
.....X
..........X
.................X
.....................O
.....................X
...............X.........X........
.................................X
.......................................O
......................................X
.................................X
..........................X
.....................XComment
-
Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
Good luck trying to teach this and I mean it, but be prepared for some really bad off side call. Most refs at the youth level just simply do not call off sides correctly. Try an off sides trap and you will be giving the other team a break away 99% of the time.Comment
-
It's no more difficult than teaching the basic principles of pressure and cover. If they can get that, the flat four is easy.
No need to trap. Too risky.Comment
-
Flat four is not hard to teach and will help your players develop a better understanding of team play.
However, you should not think of it as a defensive system that you crown with your attacking system. The flat back four is a way of getting numbers into attack without sacrificing the defense.
Of course you must understand flat four systems before teaching your players. That's easy today because there is a ton of Euro football on the television. Look at any of the top four teams from any country in Europe or any of the top five National teams and the basics on Offense and defense become evident.
I've taught every club team that I coached the flat four or three and started them all at 10 years old so it's very possible to do.
Marino put a great learning tool on this forum several years ago before this forum spoiled. Perhaps I can find a bit of it for you.
Send me and email address and perhaps I can get it to you.
88Comment
-
Here's a primitive diagram. the X's are defenders. the ball carrier is O. (the dots mean nothing) Shown is left side arrow, middle pyramid shapes. right arrow.
O
.X
.....X
..........X
.................X
.....................O
.....................X
...............X.........X........
.................................X
.......................................O
......................................X
.................................X
..........................X
.....................X
Forget about "trapping" period and the above is just the kind of advice that will guarantee your failure. It looks like someone who does not understand trying to define the flat four systems interms of the "stopper/sweeper" that they understand.Comment
-
Contact PM. He has a great handle on the system and teaching it.Comment
-
http://coachmarino.com/Coaches/Chalktalk/flatfour.htm
Terminology
In essence, the flat back four is so named because of the lack of any one player responsible for providing depth, like a sweeper. Experienced players or coaches may refer to the system as simply a “back four,” or “traditional back four,” referring to the fact that the sweeper behind the defense concept actually came after the organization of a flat line of defenders. In other English speaking countries, like England, you may hear the two central players referred to as “centre-halves,” but most modern coaches will call these players central defenders. On the outside, are the outside defenders, sometimes called “wing backs.” And, the four refers to the use of four defenders! See diagram 1 for a quick look at a back four.
Organization
For the purposes of this session, the back four will be comprised of two outside backs, and two center backs (diagram 1)
diagram 1
Where is the cover?
Diagram 2 shows a “diamond” defense as you would normally see youth teams playing in the US. This defense utilizes a sweeper behind the defense, the sweeper being responsible for covering the entire defense in case of mistakes. The sweeper is an important member of teams using this system, and is often a dynamic player capable of organizing and winning balls. In the back four we have shown you, there is no such player.
diagram 2
Diagram 3 shows the O team with the ball and the back four of the X team are noted by OB or CB. As you will note the back four are not “flat,” at all. At the present moment, the weak side outside back is deep enough to provide cover for the defense.
diagram 3
In this system, there is always adequate cover, it is just a matter of who is providing the cover. Here, the O team have the ball on the wing. The left back moves forward to apply pressure, the closest center back is in a position to apply pressure in case the left back is beaten. The remaining players are providing yet again more cover for those defenders, but also ensuring there are players in the area of a direct ball, and more importantly that a path to goal is blocked.
Who is Marking That Player!?
Marking, as it has come to be known in this country, can best be seen in a game of basketball. A player such as Gary Payton is said to be marking the opposition only if he is “in the other guy’s pocket,” and Gary is affectionately known as “the glove,” for his ability to cover his man. For many reasons, basketball marking is much more like soccer marking close to the goal. That is because of the space restrictions and the danger of the attackers. In soccer, marking can have more to do with the player’s relative position to both the ball and the man he is marking, especially far from the goal.
Certainly in a back four, the approach is far more zonal than anything. In fact, in the modern back four, zones are what the entire structure is based on. There is marking, however, more and more you will see that in a team playing with a back four there is less marking of opposing players, rather, players off the ball seem to be opting to be responsible for space instead of attackers.
A sweeper/stopper “diamond” defense normally involves strict to zonal marking by the outside backs, often termed “marking backs,” and the stopper, who normally marks a central attacker. In a modern back four, the players not pressuring the ball drop to covering positions, and ensure the immediate path to the goal be blocked, as in diagram 3.
Diagram 4 shows a supporting attacker far off the ball. In this case, one of two conclusions can be made: either he is marked by the weak side outside back, who is in a position of cover, but also at an angle making it easy to close down that attacker in the time it takes for the ball to travel there; or, he is unmarked, period.
diagram 4
Generally defenders in a back four are responsible for attackers in their zone. In this sense, they are marking. A close examination of the modern back four, however, would show that mostly the defense is unconcerned about marking supporting attackers, and more concerned with blocking the path to the goal. The attack will go forward, eventually, and when they do, the defense will be there to gain possession of any penetration-seeking ball.
A back four is more likely to mark when pressure is being exerted in a different sector of the field. An example of this can be found in diagram 5. The X midfielders are pressuring the ball, and the back four is marking the two forwards. This marking is strictly regulated by the zonal approach, however.
diagram 5
In diagrams 6, the center back marks a forward's run that takes both players out of the original zone. The result is a path to goal, the very thing the defense is organized to prevent. Diagram 7 shows the O team taking advantage of this space.
diagram 6 diagram 7
The left back runs out to mark the O wing player in diagram 8. Again, the result is a path to goal, and diagram 9 shows the O team taking advantage.
diagram 8 diagram 9
There are other times when defenders will leave their areas to mark players. As stated earlier, when closer to the goal, attackers become more dangerous and must be accounted for earlier or they will score. Any movement of the defenders, however, is done with the knowledge that the path to the goal be secure.
Further Explanation of the Zonal Approach
When a team plays with a back four, it is applying the principles used there in the other sectors as well. All ten outfield players work together in zones to ensure three things:
1. There must be pressure on the ball
2. There must be cover for the player(s) pressuring the ball
3. The path to the goal must be blocked
That means that the zones themselves can only be defined relative to the other defenders. Diagram 10 and 11 demonstrate the ten defenders and their zones, and how they change when the team moves from a central position in 10 to a pressuring position on the wing in 11.
diagram 10 diagram 11
Three Common Misconceptions
The flat back system is susceptable to balls over the top because there is no cover.
This misconception assumes two things: that there is no cover, and that uncontested direct balls will be allowed. As described in this session, there should be plenty of depth and cover, provided by off-the ball defenders. Further, due to the highly-organized zonal approach, there should be a player in the immediate area of the ball in a good position to deny that ball.
Defenders need to be ultra fast in order to sprint after even attackers.
Defenders need to be fast to account for fast attackers regardless. This kind of falls along the lines of the first one, so I will leave it.
The flat back is simply an offside trap.
While the flat back CAN effectively trap and definitely utilizes the offside rule, many coaches do not instruct their teams to trap. One reason is that it requires timing and organization, with a mistake resulting in a sure chance. Another reason is that it relies on the referee or assistant referee to make the appropriate ruling. Because the back four is rarely flat, rather, players not pressuring the ball are providing cover, the system works without trapping. Still, trapping is an option for experienced players that work well together in the right situations.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Most of what has been discussed thus far represents the strengths of using a back four. In addition, the ability of the team to organize in numbers means that they can press further up the field and double team without concern of being beaten. Similarly it is very difficult for one player to dribble through a back four as there is always another player falling in to step in when the other is beaten.
Two distinct manners of beating a back four exist, and bear note here. The first is when an attack has the ball wide in the attacking half of the field. A bent ball behind the defense as noted in diagram 12 can clearly give the forward running onto the ball an advantage. This is because the defenders have to turn all the way around to chase.
diagram 12
A good team will counter this with pressure on the ball. In the case of midfield pressure, this is the responsibility of the wing midfielder (diagram 13). When in transition the wing midfielder has not come back, the outside back pushes on to prevent the service (diagram 14).
Adequate pressure on the ball should prevent the proper service from getting behind the defense. Gifted wingers, however, are capable of beating the defense.
The other weakness occurs when the attack gains possession directly in front of the back four in a central area of the field. Through balls are very difficult to play through a well-organized back four with good cover, however, a well-timed wall-pass can break down the center of defense and lead to a good chance on goal. When in the diagram 15 one forward plays to the other, the defense reacts by changing roles. During this all-important transition (diagram 16), a split second of space will present itself to the “wall” player and a first time ball to the running forward should get through before the defender can cover.
Still, this is another difficult proposition because hopefully the midfielders can assist from behind to collapse around the ball, making free attacks in such a dangerous area of the field extremely rare (diagram 17). Further, the defense can prevent the second pass with the right angles of cover, if the attacker hesitates or plays a ball that lacks pace.Comment
-
look here and it will help you understand.Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
http://coachmarino.com/Coaches/Chalktalk/flatfour.htmComment
-
The diagram sucks sorry. Flat 3 is a better intro to concept. Coach marino's site has diagrams with all the rest filled in.Originally posted by Unregistered View PostComment
Comment